Turkish Cypriots health care in South to end. Cost savings cited.

Turkish Cypriots health care in South to end. Cost savings cited.

Head of the United Cyprus Party, Izzet Izcan, released a press statement yesterday. In the
statement he pointed out that two of the major political parties of South Cyprus , DIKO and DISI,
were bringing forward a bill for parliament. The essence of this bill would be to deny free health care
to Turkish Cypriots in the South.

The proposal would mean that free health and social services would only be provided for those
that had paid a minimum of three years of social security payments and filed tax returns. The
purpose of the bill is to make savings of Euro 40 million in medical costs for the Greek Cypriot
Government.

However Mr Izcan said that this was unacceptable. It would mean that the message to some 2000
Turkish Cypriots who received cancer treatment in the South was ’go and die’.

Mr Izcan said that Turkish Cypriots had equal rights to Greek Cypriots under the constitution of the
Republic of Cyprus. Any infringement of those rights would be contested in the international courts.

He said that both parts of the population were victims of the Cyprus problem and that it was
essential that this problem was solved rather that introducing divisive laws.